Kyriakos Mitsotakis is in Brussels today to initially attend the EPP group summit before taking part in his first EU summit as Greece’s Prime Minister.

Mitsotakis raised the pressing issue of the refugee-migration crisis to his EU colleagues by stressing the need for more equitable burden-sharing by other European countries.

He made it clear that the approach adopted by some Member States that immigrant-refugee crisis does not pose a serious problem is unacceptable.

Furthermore, he noted that it would not be difficult for the partners to agree on a solidarity plan to address the issue.

The Prime Minister also stressed that it is a priority for the government to speed up asylum procedures and return those not eligible for asylum to Turkey, adding that more assistance is needed by EU partners.

The matters to be included on the agenda at the Summit are Brexit, Turkey and its illegal drillings in the Cypriot EEZ and the situation in Syria with regards to Turkey’s involvement.

“Greece and the EU cannot be blackmailed by Turkey”, he stated.

Regarding the integration of the western Balkans he stated that we support them provided that they respect the terms of the agreements they have signed, referring to the Prespes Agreement with North Macedonia, and respect the ethnic minorities, referring to the velvet ethnic cleansing in progress against the Ethnic Greek minority of Northern Epirus by Albania.